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POUND RIDGE, N.Y.  When Pound Ridge voters go to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 8, they will discover two things they may never have seen before. First, theyll be voting on the new optical scanner voting machines and, secondly, all of the candidates on the ballot are running unopposed.

Without any opposition, Republican incumbent Gary Warshauer will be elected to his fifth two-year term as supervisor. Additionally, two town board positions are up for re-election. Incumbent Richard Lyman, a Republican, is seeking a third term as councilman. However, Councilman Paul McConville, another Republican, has declined to seek re-election. He should be replaced by newcomer Ali Boak, a Democrat. Town Clerk Joanne Pace is also running unopposed for a second term and Town Justice Regina Kelly is also not being challenged for her position.

Pace noted that it is unusual for an entire slate of candidates to be unopposed, but said it means the Republicans and Democrats in Pound Ridge are able to work together without partisan bickering.

This time it was mutually agreed upon by the parties to run unopposed, Pace said. This is a small town and we try to work together. We are not very political. Instead, we try to look for the candidate who is most qualified.

Voters who do show will encounter the new optical scanning machines, which have yet to arrive at the Pound Ridge polling places.

They are county-owned machines and are kept at a warehouse in Ardsley, Pace said. We will get them a couple of weeks before the election.

Gone are the mechanical machines where voters clicked a lever and pulled the curtain open to register their vote. With the optical scanner, voters will fill out a card with a pencil, much the way you fill out a SAT test sheet, and then slide the card into the scanner, which reads and then registers the votes.

Pace said other municipalities have used the machines successfully.

There have been some very minor glitches, she said. But technicians are on call to come out and fix any problems.

Pound Ridge will receive six voting machines to divide up between its two polling places. The town has four voting districts  districts 1 and 2 vote at the Town House, while districts 3 and 4 vote at the firehouse. The Town House will get four of the machines, while the firehouse will have two.

The Daily Pound Ridge
will have profiles of all the candidates in the coming weeks.